Trump Denies Asking James Comey To Shut Down The Investigation Into Mike Flynn

4:53 PM 05/18/2017 | Politics

Kaitlan Collins | White House Correspondent

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Donald Trump had a one-word response when he was asked if it was true that he requested James Comey shut down the federal investigation into Mike Flynn: “No.”

In a press conference with Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos at the White House Thursday, Trump offered his first public remarks on the allegation the former FBI Director made in a memo about a meeting the two had in February.

Trump also reiterated that he believes he is the victim of a witch hunt when he was pressed for his reaction to the Department of Justice appointing a special counsel to oversee the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election.

“I respect the move but the entire thing has been a witch hunt,” Trump said. “There is no collusion between, certainly myself, and my campaign. I can certainly speak for myself.”

“I think it divides the country,” he added of the investigation. “I can tell you that we want to bring this great country of ours together…Believe me, there is no collusion. Russia is fine, but whether it’s Russia or anybody else, my total priority — believe me — is the United States of America.”

“Tomorrow as you know I’m going to Saudi Arabia, Israel, Rome…We have a lot of great things going on, so I hate to see anything that divides us. We have to get back to running this country really, really well.

“Director Comey was very unpopular with most people. I actually thought when I made that decision, and I got a strong recommendation from the deputy attorney general, but when I made that decision, I actually thought that would be a bipartisan decision.”

Trump cited Comey’s “poor, poor performance” from when he testified in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee. Comey wrongly said Huma Abedin “forwarded hundreds and thousands of emails, some of which contain classified information,” and later had to correct it.

“So poor in fact, that I believe that’s why the deputy attorney general went out and wrote his very, very strong letter. Then, on top of that, after the Wednesday performance by Director Comey, you had a person come and have to readjust the record, which many people have never seen before, because there were misstatements made. I thought that was something that was terrible.”

“We need a great director at the FBI. I cherish the FBI…I’ll be announcing that director very soon, and I look forward to doing that. I think the people in the FBI will be very,very thrilled. We Look forward to getting this whole situation behind us.”

“There was no collusion. Even my enemies have said there was no collusion.”